Newsom on the spot in his state panel’s suit over SF height limits

Lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom speaks with Mark Baldassare at the Public Policy Institute of California on Thursday, November 9, 2017 in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Amy Osborne, Special To The Chronicle

As chair of the three-member state Lands Commission, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot riding on the outcome of the trial to overturn San Francisco’s waterfront height limits as set down by voters in 2014.

The Lands Commission sued to overturn voter-approved Proposition B on the grounds that the state — not the locals — has the final say over waterfront development throughout California. The San Francisco measure restricts the height of new waterfront buildings to limits set by the city unless voters exempt a specific project.

The measure landed on the ballot in response to neighborhood objections to high-rise condominium projects green-lighted under Newsom and his successor as mayor, Ed Lee, such as the luxury development that would have been built at 8 Washington St. near the Embarcadero.

Newsom is now running for governor and has come under stinging criticism for the Lands Commission’s lawsuit from San Francisco progressives and his gubernatorial rivals — most notably former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose campaign last week called the suit “cynical and elitist.”

To hear Newsom tell it, however, San Francisco isn’t really the issue. He says the commission was more concerned about setting a precedent in other parts of the state “where people who are not as environmentally sensitive ... might want to up-zone” along a coastline.

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“We are 100 percent ... happy to carve out San Francisco, and do a settlement — and we have been trying for months,” Newsom said. “But they (San Francisco officials) just think they are going to win.”

Nonsense, countered John Coté, spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera, whose office defended the city in a weeklong trial before a San Francisco Superior Court judge. The judge has yet to rule in the case.

“It was the state that rejected the city’s settlement proposal months ago,” Coté said.

In the meantime, he said, “if the lieutenant governor wants to carve out San Francisco, perhaps he can convince his commission to drop its lawsuit.”

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Whether writing about politics or personalities, Phil Matier and Andy Ross have informed and entertained readers for more than two decades about the always fascinating Bay Area and beyond. Their blend of scoops, insights and investigative reporting can be found every Sunday, Monday and Wednesday in the San Francisco Chronicle.